JULY 19, 2001

Jaguar fastest at Monza

AFTER the damp morning session in which Pedro de la Rosa took the top time for Jaguar, it was his team mate Eddie Irvine who got down to a respectable 1m 24.1s to go fastest of the penultimate day's runners at the classic Monza circuit.

In a Jaguar lock-out de la Rosa was second, working on race set-up to Irvine's tire selection while Rubens Barrichello was third for Ferrari, just ahead of race distance runner Mika Hakkinen.

McLaren had two engines threated to let go, one each for Hakkinen and test driver Alex Wurz, under the stresses of long spells at full throttle - a worrying sign before next weekend's German Grand Prix - as did Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella. The final day's testing takes place tomorrow.